PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3161, 13 August 1917, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Making allowanco for tho continued improvement which is reported in tho discipline of tho Russian armies, tho state of affairs in Rumania must still bo regarded as critical. It is not necessarily desperate, but tho Russo-Rumanian armies in Moldavia arc bearing the brunt of tremendously formidable attacks. On the north, tlio enemy is striving to break into Northern Rumania from Bukowina, by way of the Sereth and Suczawa Valley. Available reports state that the enemy's attacks in this region havo been rc-i pulsed, but he has made some'headway further south, where the llnssoRumanians are established on riverlines extending across South-West-ern _ Moldavia. His immediate objective ill this locality is a, branch .railway running north-west, along tho Trotus Valley, from the Rumanian trunk railway to tho Carpathians, on the western frontier of Moldavia. _ Apart from tho importance of this railway the Trotus is the principal natural obstacle to a northward advance by tho enemy through Western Moldavia. In tho latest fighting the enemy has driven tho Russians across the Susita River, some distance south of the Trotus, and has also compelled the Rumanians to retire a milo or twp in the mountain country further west. There is still a possibility that the Allies may consolidate their defence, and in this connection it is noteworthy that Russian counter-'it-tacks in some places regained the south bank of tho Susita, but continued progress by tho enemy in tho area of his latest 'attacks would completely overturn the Russo-Ru-manian line as ib is now located in Moldavia.

The best individual item of news Irom tho Russian theatre to-day; rc-

lates to the_ total failure of an enemy offensive in the direction of Brody. This town and a comparatively narrow strip of adjoining territory are now all that remains of the formerly extensive Russian conquests in Galicia. Brody stands on a, railway running south-west to Lcmberg, and it is one of a number of vantage-points from which tho Russians lately threatened that centrc. The importance of Brody as a vantage-point for an advance on Lcmberg has departed for the time being, but the failure of th 6 enemy to drive in tho Russian lino in Northern Galicia has its placo with other indications that tho, stato of tlio Revolutionary armies is improving. 1 * * *• * In spite of tho confident pronouncement on tho subject made by the Paris correspondent of an Aiuorican daily, the extent to which tho Germans have reinforced their Eastern armies remains to Borne extent a matter of conjecture. It must bo supposed,- however, that they are employing fairly heavy leinforccments in their attempts _to forco the issue on the Rumanian front, and this maizes it likely that | tho Western Allies may in the near future heavily intensify tho tremendous pressure they arc already imposing on tho enemy front. The fact that the enemy is at present attacking heavily on tho French front if anything increases the probability that further developments of tho Allied offensive are imminent. The British attack east of Yprcs, reported to-day, is no doubt intended to lead up to greater events, but in itself it was an enterprise oi limited scope. It was not at all points completely successful, but moat of the high ground against which it was directed was secured and consolidated. In particular the attacking troopß completed tho capture of westhoek village and the ridge of the samo name. Tho enemy has lost another of his few remaining observation points on tho generally monotonous Flanders plain.